17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Altered Images
Bleeding Reality..

Period Poverty is a term coined for lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, hand washing facilities and waste management due to financial constraint. Even today in rural India woman of the same family wash and use the same cloth on their periods. Pad is considered a luxury and so they believe that cloth, ashes, husk sand, newspapers etc. are good enough for something dirty like periods. Unhygienic menstrual conditions often result in women developing health problems which are further aggravated due to their inability/unwillingness to seek medical help on time Nearly 60,000 cases of cervical cancer deaths are reported every year, two-third owing to poor menstrual hygiene and women living below the poverty line are more vulnerable than the rest.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 04.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2019
Photo Location: India
Copyright: © Niraj Gera